


Archangel

by id_ten_it



Series: The golden journey [2]
Category: Call of Duty (Video Games)
Genre: Afghanistan, Desert night ops, Gen, Graveyard of Empires, Helicopters, M/M, Military, Military Jargon, Mission Fic, Shooting, Slow Burn, Suicide Bomber
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-20
Updated: 2018-01-02
Packaged: 2019-02-13 11:44:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12983373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/id_ten_it/pseuds/id_ten_it
Summary: Ghost gets shot, but only cause he was asking for it. He also saves the mission, but only cause he was shot. There is a lot of radio chatter, a lot of dry British military humour, and a fair dusting of the sort of angst one would expect from a sniper who shoots his mate. Naturally it all ends up well in the end.Triggers for standard mil ops/ getting shot/ suicide bombers





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Dunedain789](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dunedain789/gifts).



> For Dunedain789, without whom I wouldn't know these characters. 
> 
> I hope the jargon isn't too jargon-y, if it is you know how to leave a comment!
> 
> https://americanmilitarynews.com/2017/05/fascinating-video-shows-how-everyday-sounds-trigger-veterans-with-ptsd/

 

Archangel – the classic sniper call sign – reported in position. Si felt a small amount of tension unknot from his stomach. Things usually went better with an Archangel. Not that he expected things to go poorly.

“Archangel, Rover 2.”  
“Rover 2, Archangel. Go ahead.”  
“Archangel is in position. Out.”

The knot in Riley’s belly loosened more. Ewan’s clear blue eyes would be on him the whole time. He glanced in the direction of said eyes and grinned, winking, before running his hand down his rifle. A quick acknowledgement before they got to a place he couldn’t look up there, a quick connection from one man alone in a cold and dark night in the arse end of the world to another, a quick check of the weapon that might safe his life. In another setting those sorts of actions would be enough for his chosen woman (or man) to be following him down the road for a fun night. If anyone had asked Riley he’d have assured them that Ewan wasn’t capable of that sort of thing. Of course, Riley couldn’t see the way Ewan’s Adams apple bobbed at that smile.  
“Acorn, Rover 2.”  
“Rover 2, Acorn. Go ahead.”  
“Acorn is in position. Three updates have been sent. Confirm your receipt.”  
“Acorn, wait out.”  
Riley ripped off his screen cover with his teeth, tapping at it with his gloves, retrieving the data, mentally adjusting his route.  
“Rover 2, Acorn.”  
“Acorn, Rover 2.”  
“Rover 2, information received. Out.”

“Rover 2, Sunray.”  
“Sunray, Rover 2, go ahead.”  
“Rover 2, we are T minus 10. What’s your ETA?”  
“Sunray I am 5 miles away. ETA T minus 1.” He didn’t add ‘as you briefed’. People didn’t usually appreciate extraneous radio chatter, though it was the sort of comment someone would laugh at.  
“Roger Rover 2. Sunray out.”  
Riley smiled thinly to himself, guiding his drink hose to his mouth with a practiced flick of his head. Classic boss, always with that sly suggestion he knew better.  
Well, he should probably get going. Rover 1 was well underway. With a short warm-up wriggle and a check his balaclava was covering any accidental grin now he had finished drinking, he set off at a jog. Some day, he knew, his knees and back and ankles would give out, but today was not that day. Today, he felt 100% fit and healthy. A nice change. The comforting buzz of adrenaline warmed him. Just as well. All that gassing on the radio had been conducted while he was trying hard to blend into the sparse, though tall-ish, desert shrubs, enough to make anyone freeze, let alone a man who had about as much fat on him as a racehorse.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mission time!

 

 

The small collection of caves – their target for the night – swam out of the dark in that odd way things do when you examine them through an NVD. Flicking the monocular back into its groove in the top of his helmet, he nodded, moving to the 7 o’clock position. Right on cue, Rover 1 appeared on his screen. He couldn’t see them (a two-man tactical exploitation team) anymore than – he hoped – they could see him. The wonder of modern tracking technology.

Riley glanced down at his screen again before covering it and flicking the NVD back. If Acorn was right, his role was rather less detain, and rather more deter. That worked for him. Easier by far to wave a weapon at someone and pretend there were drones overhead than to grab someone for the time Rover 1 needed. He had had a good laugh at the irony of being dragged away from a varsity assignment to be the brawn of an operation. Hopefully his professor would accept his application for an extension!

Right on time, Rover 1 popped out of the darkness. No need to talk. That was how Riley liked it. No matter how sensitive the microphone and what face guard he had on (tonight it was just some merino wool, the kind Roach’s missus had given all of them last Christmas), he never trusted someone who wasn’t supposed to would overhear.

T plus 10 and Riley was settled in his chosen position, scanning the area. He was in two minds as to the usefulness of the NVD in this terrain, despite the lux that night being as close to perfect as you could get to in the cold desert hills.

“Rover 2, Archangel. Comms check.”  
“Archangel, Rover 2. Reading you loud and clear.”  
“Rover 2, you are loud and clear also.”  
“Roger.”  
“Archangel out.”  
Ewan had always dismissed the idea of a ‘double tap’ on the mic as unprofessional, as unprofessional as a double tap shot.

Riley swept the area again, taking another small sip of water. He could have sworn he heard noises but it was so hard to tell. There were some goats a few hundred yards away, he knew. He had smelt them earlier. Maybe it was them.

T plus 20. Nothing had changed. Rover 1 had reported they were around halfway through. Sounded like a big haul. Riley wondered why anyone bothered. Presumably the area was going to be a shambles – driven by tribal and religious issues – for the foreseeable future. The graveyard of empires indeed. He stretched. A pebble shifted. A goat bleated mournfully. Nothing showed up on the NVDs. Riley exhaled steadily.

T plus 30.

“Archangel, Rover 2”  
“Rover 2, Archangel. Go ahead.”  
“Archangel, request sighting on goat herd.”  
“Roger. Wait out.”  
The seconds ticked away in Riley’s head, reaching nearly two minutes before Ewan was murmuring in his ear. Ewan had a very calm radio voice. Soothing, almost.

“Rover 2, Archangel reports.”  
“Go ahead Archangel.”  
“There are at least two pers in the goat herd. Possible third. I say again, at least two pers, possibly three.”  
“Roger. Intent?”  
“They are approaching your location.”

“Rover 2, Sunray.”  
“Sunray, Rover 2.”  
“Rover 2, advance. Draw them from Rover 1s location.”  
“Roger.” Riley wished the boss wouldn’t interrupt like that. Ewan hadn’t finished his transmission.

“Rover 1, Sunray.”  
“Sunray, Rover 1.”  
“Rover 1, what is your ETA?”  
“10 mikes.”  
“Roger, Rover 2, make it so.”  
“Roger Sunray.”  
“Archangel out.”  
Riley sniggered into his merino. Sunray didn’t reply.

T plus 32. Riley, 100 yards closer to the obnoxiously smelling goats than he had been, stared into the green. Archangel had said there were at least two people out there, so there were at least two people moving towards him. Somewhere.

Blinding light. Riley instantly closed his eyes, snapping his head so the NVD was on his helmet again. Blind. He blinked furiously.

“Archangel, Rover 2.” His voice was still steady.  
“Rover 2, Archangel.”  
“Archangel. I’m blind. Bright light my 2 o’clock. Attempting to regain visual.”  
“Archangel looking.”  
“Rover 2 out.”

Less blind. Still not able to see details. The spotlight got brighter as they moved closer. Riley could feel it bobbing over him. He stood, as large as he could make himself, trusting they would be small desert people.

***

Once, when he was at primary school, the fireman from the local station had come to talk with them. He had explained to the children that when they were in a building looking for you, the firemen wore respirators and helmets. He put one on to show them and two little girls had screamed. Simon had imagined how scary it would be to look up through the smoke and see that, and he had shivered. He hadn’t screamed. He wished his Da had had a nice fireman to search for him, even if he did look scary.  
His poor Ma had had no way of getting him to understand exactly what it was like on board a burning ship.

***

Intimidation, shock and awe, were what he was thinking of as he stood up in the way of the three men. All three immediately reached for their AKs. Riley sucked noisily on his drinking straw and made a show of calling in an airstrike. The men glanced at each other. Riley knew they were counting the minutes until they’d have to leave or risk being engaged by an (imaginary) Reaper.

One man stepped forward, silhouetted by the light. Riley could see the light was a powerful torch one of them was holding. Rile wished he spoke Pashtu. Or Urdu. He wasn’t sure. They were apparently yelling at him to scare him in the same was he was puffing himself up, but he didn’t know what they were saying.

Riley waved his state-of-the-art MARS-L at him. The man waved his grubby AK-47 right back. Riley wondered if the decades old weapon would actually fire. He wondered if he could find out. Over his headset he could hear Sunray getting increasingly urgent, but he couldn’t make out the words. Rover 1 kept replying. Riley took two deep breaths. If he started shooting now, he couldn’t possibly get all three of them. Decisions, decisions.

The third man placed his hands on his hips. The second man swung the torch around, obviously trying to get Riley to follow. The first man lifted his weapon. His right hand curled around the grip and trigger. Riley snapped up his own weapon – it was only a few degrees away – and fired, throwing himself right as he did so. Right, the way no-one expected you to dive. Over your own weapon. A few of his shots went wide, but enough hit that the first man went down. Two more. So long as they didn’t get inside the caves. His mission was to keep them out of the caves.

Riley rolled onto his back. The torchlight went out abruptly; apparently the torch was dropped so number 2 could start firing into the ground. Riley slithered onto his front and then jumped upright.  
“Archangel, so you have a shot?”

Number 3 yowled angrily, pushing his jacket apart. Riley looked over, eyes adjusted again. A suicide vest. He couldn’t work out why, but there wasn’t time to think about that now.

“Rover 2, confirm there is no dead man switch.”  
Of _course_ Ewan was all over it. Riley peered against the shadows as best he could, but it was impossible to see.  
“Archangel, I can not confirm.”  
“Archangel, Sunray. You are not cleared.”

Riley swore in his mind, looked again between the two men – now line astern in front of him, with number 3 in front – who were also trying to shoot at him. Luckily, number 3 was trying to blow them all up so was in between number 2 and Riley. So, no-one was shooting yet. It was one of those little tactical pauses. It let Si think.

Riley took a step to the left and launched himself at the number 3, arms wrapping like a vice, MARS-L settling onto his shoulder blade.  
“Archangel, Sunray. You are cleared.”  
With no more fuss than a tired man settling at a bar, number 2 sank to the ground.

Arm in arm, number 3 and Riley rolled on the ground. They struck stones. Riley smacked his helmet anywhere it would reach. The little desert man tried to strangle him. The suicide vest shoved against Riley’s chest. He tried harder. There was certainly a dead man switch. A quick glance sideways showed him the first man had died several steps away, hands outstretched. The AK was on the ground, muzzle towards Riley and the suicide bomber. Looking cost Riley valuable situational awareness and he grunted as the man jabbed his foot into Riley’s knee.

The fight continued. Riley, knee somewhat sore and feeling rather like he had already been up for many hours, wondered how he could win. He rolled onto his back and wrapped his legs around the other man’s legs, locking his feet together. His arms fought to remain wrapped around the other man. How was the switch to be defeated?  
He continued to smack the man with his helmet, battering the back of his head. With difficulty Riley talked.  
“Archangel, Rover 2. Shoot on command.”  
“Archangel, Sunray. Await my command. Hold your fire.”  
There was a short continuation of the scuffle as Riley grabbed the switch and held it tightly, rolling them onto their sides and pinning the man against the dust. “Archangel, fire.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Have you ever had someone die on top of you? Ghost has. It smells.

They remained in that position, struggling, for five or six seconds before Riley felt a burning in his arm and warmth on his thighs as the bullet killed the man and embedded in himself, and the man died.  
Feverishly, he withdrew the bleeding arm and grabbed in his webbing pouch for an Israeli bandage, slipping the padding over the hand that contained the switch, tightening the elastic. Biting his lip he pulled out his hand and snapped the bandage tight in the same moment. Switch controlled.  
Breathing shallowly he grabbed in his pouch for the XStat, slapping the handle into position and injecting the precious sponges. He took a few more breaths then, as they held, wrapped some gauze and tape over the whole thing. Staggering upright he pulled his weapon in front of him.  
“Archangel, Sunray. You are to obey all orders in future. Out.”  
Riley bared his teeth under the wool. He’d never pissed someone off enough to make them that irate on the radio! He made his way back to the cave entrance and waited.

“Rover 1, Rover 1, expedite.” He knew he didn’t have much more time before pain and blood loss meant he was a liability.

Twenty minutes later the three of them were in their helicopter, in Riley’s case already having a second bandage placed over the first, and the first of many injections. Upon his arrival inside, Sunray looked hugely irate and, when they uplifted Archangel, he’d just sat and glared at the sniper. It was a very uncomfortable hours’ flight to the airfield. Riley tried to lie back and close his eyes but the medic kept jabbing him awake, so that he was never alone with his thoughts, his pain. He managed to give Ewan a reassuring smile though. He’d felt it was the only way and was so proud and happy the sniper had trusted him enough to shoot him.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The end!

 

His three day old stubble rasped under his good hand, as Ghost rubbed his face. It was an odd contrast to the soft sheets he had been resting his hands on. With a cannula still embedded in his hand it was hard to put it anywhere but flat (or loosely curled) on top of the sheet. He was getting a massive bruise on the back of his left hand, too. The doctor must not have attached or secured it properly. You wouldn’t get that at a private hospital, or so he hoped.

 

God, what he would give for a shave! The nurses at the small camp hospital were very good, and nobody could have looked after cleaning out his torn flesh and mending his humerus better, but in terms of holistic care they left a lot to be desired. He thought with a pang of the last time Roach had been laid up, how his misses had sat in until she could whisk him away to their lover’s paradise and dote on him. He had returned a month later, hale and hearty, fitter than anyone had expected, and apparently the proud partner of the world’s best nurse. She, no doubt, shaved him every morning. Ghost rasped his chin again, and grimaced. How dead would Roach kill him, if he rang the world’s best nurse and enticed her into looking after him?

 

With a wriggle of disgust, Si settled back against his pillows, sitting up at the perfect angle thanks to the dexterity of his left thumb on the remote. There was bugger all to do in a hospital, outside of read and watch TV and eat, and wait for another physio session of course – but he was too fresh to be allowed physio yet. This led to a lot of thinking, which could not be said to be his usual method of employment. Not this introspective thinking. Ewan hadn’t been to see him. Usually, if you shot someone you knew, you’d expect to go and see the bloke, maybe apologise or at the least ask if he was okay. Ghost didn’t expect an apology, he had asked for it after all!

 

The long day toiled onwards. Si watched bad day time TV. He dozed. He flicked through the newspaper left in their Joe room. He spent far too long shopping on the internet, and ended up not buying anything because he just couldn’t decide. He pestered mates by email and text message. John said he would come by after work. Roach promised that if he, Simon Riley, thought he, Gary Sanderson, would not kill him absolutely dead by the slowest means possible should the world’s best nurse be found anywhere near his bedside then he, Simon Riley, had another think coming. Si’s enjoyment of this message, revealing as it did a disturbed and violent mind, was interrupted by the feeling that someone was watching him. He glanced towards the door.

 

Clear grey eyes appraised him through the pane of glass. Si gave a welcoming grin, softening it to a smile when he read the uncertainty in those eyes. Apparently heartened enough by the welcome, Ewan stole into the room. He appeared to force himself to look at Si’s eyes and face, and not his right arm. “Hey.”  
“Hey yourself. Busy?” Si gestured vaguely to the only seat in the rather basic room. Ewan perched – there was no other word for it – obediently.  
“A bit. Bloody Sunray is livid. He hasn’t been in here yet?”  
“I haven’t seen anyone but medical staff.”  
“Maybe they’re holding him back. Apparently you’re nearly as bad as I am. For asking to be shot” There’s a slight hesitation before the last word. Si grins, relief bubbling up inside “You have no idea how happy I was, mate. Shit, if everyone was so happy to be shot we’d be in a happier job. Seriously, if you hadn’t done that we’d have been blown sky high. His stupid dead-man switch.” Ewan’s wide eyes narrowed abruptly. “You said there wasn’t one.”  
“I know but I needed to get out of there alive. You did that.” He reached out his left hand, grasping the other man’s warmly, feeling a rush of affection and other, un-namable emotions. “Thank you.” He was answered by a shy smile. Si’s stomach flipped. Ewan never smiled!


End file.
